The US army has made the decision not to release the name of one of the three soldiers killed in the collision. Meanwhile, a medical transport plane has crashed in Philadelphia, killing six people including a child who was receiving treatment for a life-threatening condition.
Saturday 1 February 2025 07:52, UK
Aviation experts offer their insight into the most dangerous points of a flight and the safest part of the plane - and look at whether a high-profile string of plane crashes should put people off flying.
Read the full story below
A medical transport jet with a child patient, her mother and four others aboard crashed in Philadelphia shortly after taking off on Friday evening.
All six people aboard were from Mexico.
The child had been treated in Philadelphia for a life-threatening condition and was being transported home to Mexico, according to Shai Gold, Jet Rescue Air Ambulance spokesperson.
The flight鈥檚 final destination was Tijuana after a stop in Missouri.
Gold said this was a seasoned crew and that everyone involved in these flights goes through rigorous training.
鈥淲hen an incident like this happens, it鈥檚 shocking and surprising.
鈥淎ll of the aircraft are maintained, not a penny is spared because we know our mission is so critical.鈥�
The medical transport jet crashed that crashed in Philadelphia was owned by Jet Rescue Air Ambulance.
In a statement, the company said: "The aircraft XA-UCI, Learjet 55, crashed after take off from Philadelphia.
"There were four (4) crew members and one (2) passengers (pediatric patient and escort) on board.
"No further information is available at this time. At this time, we cannot confirm any survivors. No names are being released at this time until family members have been notified.
"Our immediate concern is for the patient's family, our personnel, their families and other victims that may have been hurt on the ground.
"More information will be released as it becomes available."
A small plane has crashed in northeast Philadelphia.
The crash happened less than three miles from Northeast Philadelphia Airport, which primarily serves business jets and charter flights.
Philadelphia鈥檚 emergency management office said there was a "major incident" at the location of the crash site and that roads are closed in the area.
Flight data showed a small jet taking off from the airport just after 6pm local time and disappearing from radar about 30 seconds later.
The National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates air crashes, said it was gathering information about the incident.
A Federal Aviation Administration statement said: "There were reportedly six people on board. The plane was en route to Springfield-Branson National Airport in Missouri."
Investigators have announced that the black box from the army Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a commercial aeroplane has been recovered.
They are reviewing the flight data recorder along with two from the plane as they probe the cause of the devastating crash.
NTSB Todd Inman goes on to say teams have recovered two separate recorders from the passenger jet.
One was a flight data recorder which was in "good condition" and the other was a voice recorder.
"We have confidence we will be able to get a full download of the flight data recorder in the future. Once we have that download we will not be releasing the information immediately," he says.
The voice recorder had "water intrusion", he says.
"That is not uncommon," he explains.
"We deal with that all the time."
He says there will be many steps needed to get the data from this but he has "confidence" that they will be able to get data from that too.
National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Todd Inman is giving an update on the plane crash in Washington DC.
He begins by thanking emergency responders for their efforts and then goes on to say the board has a Black Hawk certified pilot on staff.
"We have brought that member in and they are on scene providing direct technical assistance to the NTSB," he says.
"We have our own Black Hawk certified pilot in the working group for helicopters."
When it comes to salvage operations, he says barges are en-route and "we anticipate them to be on seen early tomorrow morning".
"After their arrival they will be secured and then significant salvage operations will continue - this will be the main lifting," he says.
He goes on to say there are "two distinct debris fields".
"Based on the initial mapping, there are large chunks that will be easily recoverable," he adds.
He goes on to stress that the NTSB will not be releasing a manifest - list of passenger names.
"It will not be included in our report and we will not be providing any names of the victims," he adds.
"That will come from individuals or groups."
A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) suggests staffing levels were not normal in the run up to the collision.
There is usually one air traffic controller monitoring planes and another monitoring helicopter traffic - but there was only one monitoring both that night.
Here, our US correspondent David Blevins looks at what we know...
More wreckage is being carried out of the Potomac River, our US correspondent David Blevins reports.
He says he can see additional salvage equipment and a number of vessels and a police boat.
Blevins also notes this "debris will be critical" as investigators attempt to ascertain what caused this catastrophe.
